


Physics of Alliance

by FrostonMaples



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23664604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostonMaples/pseuds/FrostonMaples
Summary: Vignettes about the growth of the other daughter of Thanos.
Kudos: 2





	Physics of Alliance

**Author's Note:**

> This is my attempt at exploring one of the characters who experienced the most growth and change during both of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Infinity War and Endgame. There isn't enough Nebula love out there!

Little piles of dust swirl in the faint Titan breeze: a micro-gravity fluctuation pull the particles up into the atmosphere over her head before she can move.

Dust is all that's left: she restrains the impulse to chase after, to keep it. _*Dust is useless. Sentiment is weakness.*_

"He did it." She tries to summon the rage, channel it into motion, but numbness fills her. She despises the weakness even as it leaves her sitting on debris, watching the human.

The human sits, quietly curled in on himself. She appreciates that silence: too often, she’s endured loud dramatics while observing beings coping with loss.

She shifts uneasily to stand as the wind tugs at her: a lifetime on spacecraft makes her nervous when air brushes her skin. _*How long will this human just sit there? Has this broken him?*_ Failure such as he has endured would break many.

The slight noise of her shifting catches the human’s attention: he blinks as he looks around wildly until seeing her, stares at her with bloodshot brown eyes as he obviously collects his thoughts.

“Hey you -“ He stops to clear his throat as his voice cracks. “What was your name again?”

“Nebula.”

He holds his hand out to her, and she hesitantly reaches out as she’s seen Peter do in the past when he met people. _*Gamora, smiling her small, wry smile: “This need to touch and hold hands is a human thing”- no. Memories are useless. Sentiment is weakness.*_ His mouth quirks as he sees her hesitation, but he merely grasps her hand gently and shakes it as she has seen her team mate do in the past.

“Hello, Nebula. My name is Tony Stark.” As he speaks, she can see a resolute mask slip into place, hiding the pain, holding it in check. “I wish we could be meeting under better circumstances, but this is what it is.” He looks around as he speaks, obviously evaluating the debris surrounding them.

“That ship you used to crash our party: it looks like it’s not going anywhere. Is that right?”

“Probably.”

He nods, unsurprised. “Quill’s ship’s around here. Let’s see if we can use it to get the hell out of here.”

As he talks, she can see him lock his pain away, behind familiar walls. Wallowing in pain won’t get them off this barren, dead world, won’t save their lives: it’s useless to them and their survival. 

She respects that.


End file.
